The Last Dragon
by darkenMe
Summary: Aoshi is the last living member of the dragon clan. Together with twelve allies, one from each of the twelve clans, he journeys to kill the man who destroyed his home.
1. Prologue

Prologue

King Ryuu stood on the balcony of his once grand castle, now decrepit and forsaken after three long years of brutal civil war. The blaring of the enemies horns sounded like the jagged roaring of some terrible and hungry beast as it clawed its way into his ears. A single tear rolled down his worn face, disappearing into one of the many lines that marred his once chiseled features. The war had aged him. He was no longer the brave, proud young tenma he used to be.

As he gazed down at the scores of Phoenix soldiers trampling through the burning, crumbled ruins of his palace, he felt an overwhelming sense of loss. It was over. The war was lost and so was the last bit of hope he had so stubbornly held on to. He waited, unafraid of his fate, prepared to give up his life.

The doors crashed open and five panting soldiers rushed into the room. Their leader, the one most elaborately armored ran towards the king's silent form while the others surrounded him in a loose circle. Placing his hand roughly on Ryuu's shoulder, the man yanked him around and stared into his saddened eyes.

"Your Majesty, finally, I found you," he said. His voice was heavy with exhaustion.

Ryuu's eyes widened with surprise while his bushy eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "Rei? I thought you had been killed…"

Clapping his hand firmly on the General's shoulder, Ryuu smiled with a mixture of relief and joy. The General allowed the King to briefly enjoy their reunion, but quickly interrupted him saying,

"Your Majesty, we have come to rescue you." He nodded to his men who exited the room and prepared to escort the king to the safe passage way hidden beneath the remains of the castle. "We must hurry," he continued, "Enishi's men are within the castle as we speak. You must not be killed, or the Kingdom will truly be lost forever."

The King shook his head at the General of the North.

"No, **she** is the future of the kingdom. Make sure that my daughter is safe before me."

"Yes, of course sir."

With that, the men were off in search of the Princess. They raced through the hallways toward her room. But when they at last reached their destination, they were stopped short by the sight of the Princess with a cold, silver blade pressed against her slender neck. A young phoenix tenma adorned in the armor of a high ranking General stood behind her with his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. King Ryuu cried out in horror. He could do nothing but watch as his only daughter grimaced in pain. A single drop of blood slid down her pale skin as the dagger just barely broke the skin. The princess remained calm and brave, but her father grew angry.

"Enishi…" His voice was laced with rage.

The phoenix smiled. "So you recognized me. I'm impressed."

"How could I not know the face of the tenma who destroyed my kingdom?"

"I suppose that's true." Enishi laughed.

"Let her go," King Ryuu growled.

"Gladly…in exchange for you, of course."

"No! Fath—" The Princess fell silent as the dagger was pushed harder against her neck, causing a fresh trickle of blood to flow.

Ryuu turned to his soldiers, who would listen to any order he gave them. They looked at him, awaiting direction. Suddenly, Enishi let out a pained cry. His hands cradled his right eye as blood poured down his face and dripped from the gaps between fingers.

The Princess ran toward her father with a small dagger, red with the phoenix's blood, held tightly in her milk white hand.

Enishi's soldiers rushed to his side, but he swatted them away like annoying flies, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"After them!"

King Ryuu placed his daughter's hand in that of the General's and pushed them into the hallway. The soldiers and the Princess looked at him confused.

"Go! I'll hold them off!"

"But sir," Rei protested.

"Go," he shouted once more as he drew his sword.

The General nodded and turned reluctantly.

"Father!" The Princess knew all too well that the King would not survive.

Ryuu stared unafraid into the red and orange eyes of the phoenix tenma before him. Surging forward into the fray, he whispered to himself,

"Live long, my precious Kaoru."


	2. Chapter 1

ok kiddies i changed this story even more so that it fit rurouni kenshin better...and it took freakin forever so you'd better like it!! at least i REALLY hope you like it i think its a lot better than before...

**- The Monkey and the Tiger -**

A thousand years had passed since the phoenix tenma, Enishi, took over the throne of the kingdom of Nihon. The once great Dragon Clan was no more. They had remained loyal to King Ryuu even after his death. And for that, they were killed. Enishi showed know mercy when dealing with the dragons. He exterminated the clan, killing even the women and children. His army demolished the Dragon Province and left an empty wasteland of charred plains and crumbled villages.

However, one young dragon tenma happened to escape the Phoenix King's rampage. He managed to hide out in the Sora Mountains, the floating mountain range whose base was entirely shrouded in thick, grey cumulous clouds. He stayed hidden in the Sky Mountains for three hundred years before he returned to his home, only to find it decimated.

For the next seven-hundred years he lived alone, traveling aimlessly from province to province, village to village, until one day his life of pain and solitude was interrupted.

The salty scent of blood permeated the icy air. A strong east wind blew the tantalizing smell into Aoshi's sensitive tenma nose. From his position on the edge of a cliff overlooking the evergreen Edo Valley he watched as yet another village burned in the fires of the Phoenix Clan.

With a speed and strength that few could match, he leapt from the cliff and landed firmly on the mossy ground of the valley forest. The smell of blood was stronger than ever as he made his way toward the village. He would search for anything of value and then leave, like he always did.

Suddenly, the faint groan of an injured person stopped him in his tracks. He followed the sound through the towering trees.

Another whimper.

He sped up, running lightly, searching for the source of the sound.

There, before him was a girl, burned and bruised, slumped against the thick trunk of a tree. She couldn't have been more than a few hundred years younger than him. Her raven hair, tan skin, and small form signified that she was a monkey tenma.

Aoshi watched concerned as her chest heaved with the effort of her ragged breaths. Reaching out slowly, he meant to feel her forehead for a temperature, but he swiftly withdrew when her eyes popped open.

The girl stiffened at the sight of him and tried to back away from him, which caused her a great deal of pain. She cringed, instantly regretting her actions. Aoshi observed as she gently rubbed her left wrist. It was bent in an awkward angle and seemed to be broken. He reached out again, this time intending to look at her injury. The moment his fingers touched her bruised skin she flinched and stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes. He withdrew his hand once again and tried his best to soften his appearance.

"I'm not going to hurt you…I just want to look at your wound."

His words were convincing enough for the girl. She relaxed, slowly, and held out her twisted hand to him, which he took with great care. He turned her hand this way and that, trying to assess the extent of the damage, pressing it lightly in various areas. The monkey let out a small protest when he pushed down on the left side of her wrist bone. The bone was bruised and sticking out in an unnatural way.

"Your wrist is dislocated."

She looked up at him confused, her big brown eyes wide and questioning.

"I have to push it back into place…it's going to hurt."

At first, she seemed unsure, but she nodded in consent anyway.

Without any hesitation Aoshi pulled on her hand with one of his own and pushed down on the bone with his other free hand. She inhaled quickly, surprised by the sudden shock of pain in her left arm even though he had warned her. But it was over in seconds and all that was left was a dull throbbing.

He tore a peace of cloth from his jacket and swiftly wrapped it around her straightened wrist. When he was finished, he let go of her hand and sighed.

"There, that should heal soon enough."

She smiled up at him. "Thank you."

"So you **can** talk."

"My name is Misao. I'm terribly sorry for all the trouble I've caused you…Aoshi."

His eyes widened the slightest bit.

"How do you know my name?"

Again, she smiled, but this time not in thanks. Her smile was somehow cold and mischievous.

"I foresaw you."

Then it dawned on him; her elaborate clothing, her intricate hair style, the divining crystal that hung from her slender neck. She was a priestess.

Every province had their own priestesses, about five or so at a time. Priestesses lived even longer than the normal tenma, whose average lifespan was already one-hundred thousand years. All priestesses were respected and revered throughout the kingdom for their goddess-like beauty and purifying power, but the priestesses of the Monkey Tribe were especially known for their ability to foresee the future.

"You are a very important person in this world Aoshi."

"What are you talking about?"

"Would you like me to tell you?"

Without waiting for an answer, Misao held out her hands as if to pray and tilted her head back so that her face was to the Heavens. Her eyes suddenly rolled back in their sockets and left only white visible. Aoshi fell back, surprised by her strange actions. But he really began to feel uncomfortable when she opened her mouth and spoke with a voice that was not her own. It was deep and resonating throughout the woody atmosphere as she whispered into the night,

"After one thousand years, a dragon tenma will rise up against the Phoenix King…" Here her voice fell to the quietest of whispers, so that Mamoru had to strain to hear what she was saying. "Allied by twelve others, from each of the twelve clans, he will defeat the King and reclaim what is rightfully **hers**."

Aoshi creased his eyebrows in confusion. What she was saying didn't make any sense to him.

"He will rescue the star in the west and lead the lost ones to justice."

With the last words of the prophecy, Misao let her hands fall into her lap. Her eyes went back to their normal state and she looked happily at Aoshi.

"Now do you see why you are so important?"

"I suppose…but the prophecy is wrong."

"Excuse me?" Misao huffed, offended.

"I didn't mean that your powers are insufficient…it's just that there are no Dragons left except for me." A look of long buried sorrow resurfaced in Aoshi's blue-green eyes. "I'm the last one…I couldn't possibly find another ally from the Dragon tribe as the prophecy says I am to."

Again, she huffed and turned her head away.

"Well, all I know is that I've never been wrong in my foresight."

"How am I to know who these allies are," he asked, trying to change the subject.

"How should I know," she answered him haughtily with another question.

"Well, seeing as how I'm in the Monkey Province I might as well begin my search here…that is if this prophecy of yours has any truth to it."

"Of course it does." Misao stuck up her nose defiantly. "However, you needn't do that because I'm the monkey ally."

"Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?"

"You wouldn't have believed me!"

"I'm not sure I believe you now…"

"I told you, I've **never** been wrong!"

"Alright…then where shall we travel?"

She looked up at him skeptically. "You don't have anywhere in mind?"

"I don't really plan my route…" He looked off into the distance. "I'm somewhat of a free spirit."

"Great," she said, stretching out the word to emphasize her sarcasm. "Why don't we head toward our neighboring province of the Tigers?"

"Sounds good to me."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been two weeks since Aoshi and Misao had begun their journey and they had finally reached their destination. They walked through the enormous gates of Tiger Province and into the bustling bazaar of the province known for their exotic delicacies. The Tiger Clan was famous for their delicious and inventive foods.

Everywhere they looked there was another sweet-smelling dish waiting to be tasted, each more tempting than the first. The two wandered through the festivities for a while, but then sat down to eat lunch and discuss how they would go about searching for the tiger ally.

Misao munched absent mindedly on a turtle kabob.

"I say we should go to the martial arts school---we want a fighter on our side."

Aoshi nodded in agreement.

"Great! So, let's get going!"

Smiling, Aoshi followed the bubbly monkey tenma. The girl's chipper personality was rubbing off on the normally stoic dragon.

They managed to get directions from a street vendor and soon enough they stood before Master Hino's School of Martial Arts. Knocking on the large wooden doors, they waited patiently outside. It took a while, but finally a short, yet muscular man pulled open one of the massive doors, which looked as though it would take ten men to move. He looked them up and down and then said,

"What do you want," in a rather high pitched voice that didn't exactly match his appearance.

"Hello, we're from the Hitoshi Competitive Martial Arts Team. We travel the kingdom performing in various martial arts tournaments and we are currently looking for new recruits. We're a very prestigious program and many of our members have gone on to become captains, lieutenants, and even generals of the Royal Army. We request an audience with your superior and we wish to observe your students in their daily lives." Misao spoke so swiftly and fluidly it was as though she had said the words a thousand times.

The stocky man from the school stared at her dumbfounded. She merely tapped her foot in impatience.

"Y-yes, right away, miss," the man managed to stutter. "P-please come inside."

"Thank you very much."

Misao and Aoshi walked inside the doors and followed the man to a large training hall, where the master of the school was busy teaching one of the advanced classes.

The stocky man bowed as he approached the master.

"I'm terribly sorry for interrupting you Master, but these people here are from a competitive martial arts team and they wish to recruit students from our school."

The master bowed to Aoshi and Misao who returned the gesture in respect. Misao smiled pleasantly and repeated the exact words she had spoken to the stocky man at the front doors. When she had finished the master seemed somewhat skeptical.

"You say you're from a competitive martial arts team," he asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Yes, sir," answered Misao, without a moments hesitation.

"I've never heard of you before…"

"Oh, we're a rather small organization because we are quite particular when choosing our members." Again, there was no uncertainty at all in the priestess' voice.

"Well…I don't see how we could lose anything by allowing you to simply observe our students." The master consulted the stocky man before finally saying, "Very well, you may stay here and search for your new recruits for one whole week, but after that I'm afraid you must move on."

"Thank you, sir." Both Misao and Aoshi bowed. "That is all we ask."

The master bowed in return and gestured toward the stocky man.

"Chi will be your guide."

"Thank you," Misao smiled brightly. "You are most gracious old master."

"You are most welcome. Now, if you'll excuse I must return to my lesson."

"Of course."

Chi watched with pride as the master demonstrated a particularly difficult set of moves with the fluidity gained from many years of practice. Although old, the master was still as graceful and strong as when he was in his prime.

"This is the advanced class," explained Chi, "They are currently learning a style of Kenpo."

Misao watched intrigued; she had never seen real martial arts. The Monkey Clan was a peaceful people who believed more in scrolls than in fists.

On the other hand, Aoshi watched indifferently, yawning every now and then. The priestess slapped him on the arm.

"Pay attention, she scolded. "We're supposed to be looking for a good fighter."

"Everything they're practicing was taught to my people when we were mere toddlers." He looked down at her, his face as plain as a Noh mask. "I doubt we'll find anyone good enough here."

"You think you could do what they are?"

He said nothing.

"Find a sparring partner!" The master's voice boomed in the wood-paneled room.

"Why don't you show me then," Misao asked.

Silence.

The monkey's eyes roamed through the crowd of males, ranging from the ages of sixteen to twenty-five. She stopped when her gaze fell upon an older looking man, probably about twenty-five, and the biggest and most hulky man of the bunch. Pointing to him, she said,

"Fight him."

Aoshi shrugged. "I'd rather not."

"Hah! Chick—"

"I'd rather not hurt anyone."

"Oh, yeah right!" Misao walked up to the master. "Old Master, my associate here would like to test out one of your students, if that is at all possible."

"Of course," replied the master.

"Him, right there, the big one." She pointed to him again.

"Ah yes, Goku is one of our best students." He called Goku over and explained the situation to him.

Goku seemed quite enthusiastic as he looked Aoshi up and down, cracking his knuckles all the while. The dragon merely stared back blankly.

The master cleared his throat and all fell silent.

"Class, we have a special demonstration for you today." He gestured toward Goku and Aoshi. "Our very own student, Goku, and Mamoru of the Hitoshi Competitive Martial Arts Team will spar for us."

There was thunderous cheering as the two men stepped into the center of the training hall. Chi stood between them with a hand on each man's chest.

"This is a spar, not an actual fight." The men nodded. "There will be three rounds; each will end when one man can no longer fight. Understood?"

They nodded again. Chi stepped back, raised a hand, and as he brought it down in one swift motion, shouted,

"Fight!"

Like a cat pouncing on its prey, Goku ran at Aoshi head on, attempting to knock him over. But Aoshi simply stepped to the side and let his opponent pass him by. Goku looked about, disoriented with his back turned to the dragon. When he realized his position, he quickly spun around so that he was once more facing Aoshi. No one had ever dodged his Tiger's Tackle before, and it frustrated him to no end that this skinny stranger had done so without even breaking a sweat.

Aoshi looked at him with expressionless features. Growling, Goku tried again to bring him down. And again he missed.

Now irked beyond all reason, the tiger tenma threw himself at Aoshi trying in vain to simply touch him at all. Of course, he missed again as the dragon stepped aside for the third time.

"Stop running you coward," Goku shouted at him in fury. "Be a man!"

Aoshi smirked. "Ok."

All that could be seen was Aoshi's blurred body dashing across the room toward Goku. With one lightning fast punch to the gut Goku went flying into the wall. Aoshi stood there in the middle of the room, staring disappointedly at his slumped body. Shaking his head, he turned around and walked back to where Misao stood, her mouth slack and hanging open, just waiting for some manner of insect to occupy it.

"No one," he said, coldly.

Misao continued to gawk, surprised, not by his skills as a fighter, but by his icy disposition.

"What's the matter with you?" She looked up at him, but he refused to make eye contact.

The students and Chi had rushed to Goku, who waved them off, insisting that he was fine. The master's narrowed eyes followed Aoshi with a criticizing look.

"Why are you being so distant," she asked, taking a hold of his shoulders and shaking him lightly.

"Let's go," was all he said in reply.

"Wait!" An anonymous voice called out. "I'll fight you."

Both Misao and Aoshi turned around in search of the brave owner of the voice. What they saw was a short, slender man who barely passed even Misao in height. His only intimidating feature was his flaming orange hair that cascaded down his back in a high ponytail.

"The name's Kenshin." He pointed a thumb at his chest. "And I'd like to fight you."

Aoshi's eyes narrowed as he sensed Kenshin's aura; it was somehow different than all the others. This new man's fighting spirit was more powerful than anything Aoshi had ever felt before, maybe even more powerful than his own. He found himself intrigued by this novel sense of competition. Smirking again, he said,

"Very well."

Kenshin returned the smirk with his one of his own and continued to walk into the center of the room along with Aoshi. Once again, a ring of men formed around the sparring partners and Chi stepped in between them. His hand sliced through the air in a downward motion as he shouted,

"Fight!"

The two men remained where they were, simply staring each other down. Their eyes burned with the intensity of their fighting spirit. It seemed as though they would remain as they were for the rest of the match, but suddenly, with inhumane speed both men lunged forward and the physical part of the fight began.

Aoshi punched and Kenshin blocked with ease. Kenshin kicked and Aoshi dodged without effort. Their movements were a jumbled mass of spins, kicks, flips, punches, and blocks. It was as though they were one coherent being moving in a single complex kata, instead of two opposing forces engaged in a battle of soul and well as body.

An hour passed and neither tenma had gained any ground on the other. They were as equally matched as Yin and Yang. Both men had the same number of bruises and scratches, and both were beginning to tire. All at once, they simultaneously took a hard blow to the side of their face. And at the same time they fell heavily to the floor like twin bags of rice.

Breathing laboriously, they stared up into the wood paneled ceiling of the training hall. Their arms lay useless on either side of their beaten bodies, their legs spread out on the floor, too tired to function.

Misao ran to Aoshi's side. Kneeling down, she gingerly placed her hand on his shoulder. She shook him lightly, but he gave no response.

"Aoshi?"

Nothing.

"Aoshi!" She shook him harder. "Get up you lazy dog! You still have an important job to do!"

His eyes rolled around in their sockets until they were gazing up at the priestess.

"Get up! It's just a few scratches." She swatted his arm angrily and he let out a heavy sigh.

"Do really not care at all that I'm hurt and tired?"

"You got yourself into this Mr. No one's good enough for me!"

"Oh, shut up," he drawled, exasperated.

"Don't tell me to shut up! I give you purpose in your pathet—"

"He's the one…"

Misao stopped talking for two seconds.

"What," she asked, stupidly.

"He's our ally." Aoshi lazily pointed a finger at Hajime, who still lay motionless on the tatami mat floor.

There was an unusually long pause before Misao spoke again.

"Are you sure?"

Groaning, Aoshi slowly sat up to a sitting position. He nodded with closed eyes.

"I'm positive." There was no doubt whatsoever in his deep, husky voice.

"Alrighty then." Misao clapped her hands together as she stood up to her full height of five feet and three inches. "Let's go talk to him."

Aoshi shook his head.

"Not yet."

Surprised, she complained loudly, "Why?"

"There are too many eyes here…," he explained calmly, "And too many ears."

She nodded, hesitantly.

"We'll wait until tonight."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The crescent moon hung daintily in the ebony sky, shrouded in thin wisps of silvery cloud. An icy gust of wind blew through the dimly lit courtyard of the martial arts school, empty except for a dragon and a monkey tenma running toward the warmth of the dining hall. As they reached the shoji doors of the hall, a chambermaid bowed and slid open the oiled rice paper panels, welcoming them inside.

Misao searched the large room, filled with men in matching uniforms, until her gaze finally fell upon Kenshin. Sitting at a table amongst ten other men, he ate and laughed, at ease with his friends.

When Misao and Aoshi approached the group, they suddenly fell silent. They stared up at the two new comers with curiosity.

"Good Evening, gentlemen." Misao smiled politely.

"What a surprise." Kenshin waved at them to sit down. "To what do we owe this great honor?"

Laughing, she asked, "What honor? We are mere traveling martial artists; no one to be praised and looked up to."

"But your friend there was able to beat Goku with one punch," one of the men shouted.

"And he sparred with Kenshin for a whole hour," another joined in the conversation.

"That's longer than any of us students could last." Everyone spoke their agreement.

Kenshin lowered his head in embarrassment. Noticing his discomfort, Misao decided to take advantage of the situation. She smiled devilishly and swatted him, playfully, on the arm.

"My goodness Keshin, I never knew you were so strong!" She giggled. "I just assumed that Aoshi could not beat you because he was weak."

Giggling again, she made a point to glance over her shoulder at Aoshi, who was glaring back at her through narrowed eyes. The entire table erupted in laughter. Misao found it so amusing her eyes were watery. With a sweep of her dainty hand she wiped away the tears of mirth, apologizing to her companion,

"I'm sorry Aoshi, I was only joking."

"Come on, enough teasing, let's eat!" Kenshin held a bowl of steaming hot white rice in front of Misao's stunned face.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kenshin placed his bowl and chopsticks down on the table with a loud clatter.

"That was one good dinner." He sighed contentedly.

Misao agreed, "I don' think I've ever eaten so much."

Just as she finished her sentence, a thunderous burp roared from her lips. There was a moment of awkward silence as Misao's eyes widened and her hand flew to cover her explosive mouth. And then, all at once, the table shook with the men's booming laughter. They guffawed uncontrollably, rolling about on the floor like monkeys. Maiko joined them, laughing at herself good humouredly.

"I never knew girls could burp like that," one of the fifteen year old boys called out.

Misao laughed even harder. "Me neither!"

Once the laughing had died down, everyone began leaving for the dorms. But as Kenshin was about to follow his friends up to their room, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. It was Aoshi. Kenshin stared at him questioningly, wondering if he wanted a rematch of their earlier spar.

"Follow me…"

For some reason, wasn't at all worried by not knowing where they going. He followed, as instructed, with no complaints. The two rounded a dark corner and came face to face with Misao, who was waiting for them in a deserted area of the school.

"We're terribly sorry," Misao bowed, "But we've lied to you….We aren't a traveling team of martial artists."

Kenshin sighed in disappointment. "I figured as much."

"We want to apologize by telling you who we really are, but we can't do that unless we are sure that you despise the Phoenix King."

He looked confused. "Who doesn't hate the King?"

"Good point," Misao agreed. "Well, in that case I guess we can tell you our true identities….I'm a priestess of the Monkey Tribe," she pointed at Aoshi, "And Aoshi is the only remaining member of the Dragon Clan."

Surprised, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. For a while, he continued to stand there with his mouth hanging open like a dead fish. It took him some time, but he finally composed himself.

"You're a…dragon?" He whispered the last word as if it held some sort of mystical power. "How is that possible? They were killed off a thousand years ago by the Phoenix King himself."

"Well, everyone except **him** was killed." Misao nodded her head toward Aoshi's silent form.

Kenshin shook his head; he just couldn't believe that an actual dragon tenma was still alive. Suddenly, he stopped shaking his head and looked up at the two rebels with a startling intensity.

"I want to join you."

Now it was Misao's turn to be surprised. "Wow…that was easier than I thought it would be."

"You're in," said Aoshi. "Tell him the prophecy, Misao."

She nodded and did as she was told. When she had finished recounting her vision, Kenshin seemed even more intense than before.

"I think we should go to the Dog Province next," Kenshin suggested, "And then move south to the desert, which would take us through the Snake and Rat Provinces."

"That's a good plan," said Aoshi.

"We should leave within the next two days," added Kenshin.

Aoshi shook his head. "No, tomorrow; the sooner we leave the better."

Kenshin nodded. "I can have my things ready by noon."

"Great!" Misao jumped happily. "Then it's settled; we leave tomorrow in the second hour of the boar."


End file.
